Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Producers

 

Aug. 17, 2010

Dear friend,

From another group:

Wally says:

My son turned 17 last week, and as a birthday present, I took him to see a local stage production of Mel Brooks' The Producers. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. For those of you who are not familiar with this play, it began as a movie, written and produced by famed Jewish comic Mel Brooks, in 1967. It eventually was adapted as a hit Broadway musical, which was then made into a feature film in 2005.

The story takes place in 1959, and centers around a down-and-out Broadway Producer, Max Bialystock.

Bialystok (without the 'c') is the largest city in northeastern Poland, and, at the outbreak of World War II, had a population of 50,000. It had the largest proportion of Jewish residents of any city in the world--60 per cent. The bialy--sort of like a bagel but with a filling and no hole in the middle--gets its name from Bialystok, and is a common breakfast item in New York. Bialystok was also where one of the worst atrocities of the WW2 occurred. In 1941, a synagogue was sealed shut with 800 people inside and then burned to the ground. Most of the city's Jews died in death camps in Treblinka, halfway between Bialystok and Warsaw.

Max encounters an accountant who makes an off-hand comment that an unscrupulous Producer could make more money off of a flop than a hit. This could be accomplished by raising a million dollars from investors and then producing a $100,000 flop and pocketing the rest through creative bookkeeping. To accomplish this, Max needs a play that is a sure-fire flop, and find just the right one: Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp with Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden. In the event, the play turns out to be a surprise smash hit, and Max ends up in Sing Sing prison.

When Brooks was criticized for the subject matter, he responded: "Who better to make money off of Hitler than a Jew?"

I highly recommend the 2005 film version of the musical. It's a hoot!

--Wally




--

Peace.

Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com

http://www.DebatingTheHolocaust.com

Amazon's: DEBATING THE HOLOCAUST: A New Look At Both Sides by Thomas Dalton

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